The days are gray, growing colder by the minute, and it is the time of year I have to give in to wearing shoes and socks. Right now my toes are screaming. I think I am also walking a bit funny.

It is April each year, no matter how cold, that I take off the socks and shoes and put on the sandals. My personal thing is I don’t put the socks and shoes back on until November. Even as the days grow cooler in the fall, I tough it out.

I just don’t like my feet enclosed in shoes. I should be living in the Southwest, but the Midwest is where my heart is, so it is what it is.

I have written before of my love to have my toes free. I was in a local store the other day, and a woman came up to me and was surprised to see me in shoes. We laughed. I told her I felt like a failure for giving in to the elements of nature.

I also feel cheated this fall. Is it ever going to stop raining?

What a dismal October we had. I love fall. It’s what I live for, but this year, my walks through Krape were cut short by the elements. Yuck. Winter is getting near.

I did buy a new pair of shoes last week. My friend Gina and I hit a shoe sale in Madison. It is the first pair of shoes I have purchased in three years.

I hate breaking in new shoes, too. I wore them to work the other day. As I stepped lightly, not wanting to get a blister, I was once again reminded how much of a pain shoes are to wear. Can you tell that I am a casual person at heart?

I think of the days my mother returned home from teaching school each day, kicking off her pumps and rubbing her aching feet from standing before a class all day long. I told myself then that shoes were evil. I have been wearing sandals ever since.

I have a shoe tree at home. Actually, it is a CD stand, but I use it to store my shoes. I’ll admit it — it is full, mostly with sandals.

The other day, I had to rearrange the shoes for the winter months. My favorite winter shoe has been placed at the top, but off to the side is a lone pair of sandals, my favorite. It is a reminder that comfort is not far away. After all, April is a mere five months away.

Page 2 of 2 - Jane Lethlean is a freelance writer for The Journal-Standard. She can be reached at jlethlean1210@gmail.com.